This sort of thing will be an issue if Christie makes a move to get on the national ticket in November.

I'm not sure it would disqualify him. A lot of Republicans are fairly liberal on both radical Islam and on immigration, as is Christie.

In fact if I were given to conspiracy theories, I might believe the so-called "neo" conservatives want to keep a contingent of radical Muslims here in America precisely because they can then use the threat of terrorism as a reason to remain involved in the Mideast.

This permits them to repeat that "If we don't fight them over there, we'll have to fight them over here" mantra that fools so many slow learners.

But I'm not a conspiracy theorist.

In any event, some excerpts:

A Quinnipiac poll in April showed Chris Christie as the most popular potential Republican vice-presidential candidate, thanks to his budget cuts and standing up to government employees' unions. But the governor of New Jersey has a problem, specifically an Islam problem, that can and should get in the way of his possible ascent to higher office. Time and again he has sided with Islamist forces against those who worry about safeguarding American security and civilization.

Some examples:

2008: When serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie embraced and kissed Mohammed Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, and praised him as "a man of great goodwill." He did this after Qatanani had publicly ranted against Jews and in support of funding Hamas, a U.S. government–designated terror organization, and on the eve of his deportation hearing for not hiding an Israeli conviction for membership in Hamas. In addition, Christie designated a top aide, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McKenna, to testify as a character witness for Qatanani.

2010: After Derek Fenton burned three pages of a Koran at a 9/11 memorial ceremony, his employer, New Jersey Transit, got Christie's approval to fire him. Protecting Islam at the expense of the constitutional right to free speech, Christie endorsed Fenton's termination: "That kind of intolerance is something I think is unacceptable. So I don't have any problem with him being fired." The American Civil Liberties Union successfully represented Fenton to get his job back.

I interviewed Qatanani not long after 9/11.

As is often the case with such true believers, I did not think he was in any way connected to terrorism. What bothered me is the way in which he and similar Muslims will insist on their freedom to practice religion here, which is fine, while also insisting Islamic countries can discriminate against Christians and Jews, which isn't.

The article goes on to discuss Sohail Mohammad, whom Christie named to the Superior Counrt - which is really just the county court and not that big a deal.

When I spoke to Mohammad he seemed like a reasonable enough guy who did not personally espouse radical Islamic beliefs.

He did indeed represent some dubious characters.

But that's what lawyers do.

So I wouldn't hold that one against Christie.

I certainly hold the Fenton termination against him, though. The guy's job at NJ Tranist was to make the trains run. If they ran, then he shouldn't have been fired.

In any event, read the whole thing and make up your mind for yourself.